Five young Americans poised to break out in 2025 MLS season

The dawn of a new MLS season brings new opportunities.

It’s a fresh, clean slate for coaches and back offices to rid themselves of their ghosts from years past. MLS has looked to its burgeoning academies and homegrown talent to cast away their results-based and financial demons. Some teams have done better jobs than others. Young Americans have been real game-changers, and you should expect the same this year. 

If you want a sneak peek into the next generation of domestic ballers, look no further. Here are five Americans poised to break out and win a starting job in the 2025 MLS season.

Patrick Agyemang – Striker, Charlotte FC (24)

Big Pat burst onto the scene in a big way last month, scoring goals in back-to-back games for the USMNT. That in itself was an incredible moment for the striker, who was playing Division-III soccer just four years ago. But Agyemang is touted for even higher heights in 2025, now with Charlotte’s starting spot firmly in hand.

In the second half of the 2024 MLS season, Agyemang saw most of his minutes off the bench as a substitute, as Designated Player Karol Swiderski took the bulk of the starts at the nine. With Swiderski now departed to Greece, Agyemang will be Dean Smith’s talisman. Even without the full confidence of his coach last year, Agyemang led the team in goals (10), so can you imagine the big man’s output with over 2,500 minutes under his belt?

Not to mention, his profile fits Smith’s counter-attacking style of play to a T. Standing at 6-foot-5 with the pace to beat any defender in a footrace, Agyemang plays like a poor man’s Erling Haaland. He can be deadly running in-behind a backline and is a formidable target in the box. I’d expect to see him and Wilfried Zaha hook up for more than a handful of goals throughout the year.

Jalen Neal – Center back, CF Montreal (21)

It hasn’t been an easy journey for Jalen Neal after graduating from LA Galaxy’s academy. After a promising string of starts in early 2023, the young center back has been mired by injuries and inconsistent performances. He was in and out of Greg Vanney’s lineups last season, and he was forced to watch from the bench as his team went on their title run—playing only 12 minutes in the playoffs. 

Neal’s offseason move to Montreal provides a new beginning. Laurent Courtois and Co. have started something of a young North American rehab program—bringing in former Canadian and American academy prospects and giving them the time to thrive. Caden Clark and George Campbell (both USMNT call-ups) are some of their latest success stories, and Neal and Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty could be next in line.

And Neal won’t have much competition. Montreal are relatively thin at center back and Courtois likes a back three (that’s that Crew influence), so Neal will get the chances to prove himself. I wouldn’t expect Neal to supplant Campbell, Joel Waterman or Fernando Alvarez from the get-go, but I believe his talent will eventually shine through.

Neal is a pretty good passer from the back, which is always handy in a Nancy-adjacent system, and his athletic profile is promising. His big issue out in SoCal was defending in isolation, but in a back three, Neal could fare much better with the extra support. 

Reed Baker-Whiting – Left back/Midfielder, Seattle Sounders (19)

Reed Baker-Whiting’s breakout campaign feels like a long time coming. The winger-turned-fullback (ever heard of that path before?) made his MLS debut in 2021 and has slowly accrued more minutes season-on-season. In 2024, Baker-Whiting earned 775 minutes throughout the regular season and even started some playoff games as he began to earn Brian Schmetzer’s trust. 

However, many of RBW’s starts came as a wing back in a back five, which is not Schmetzer’s preferred look. In his usual back-four, Schmetzer has consistently opted for the talents of Nouhou Tolo, who provides much more defensive support than the teenager. Coming through the academy as a winger, RBW is pretty polished in the final third and he strikes a pretty ball. To complete his transition to fullback, he needs to develop the defensive side of his game.

There is no doubt that he is a better soccer player than Nouhou—the Cameroonian is very limited technically. And RBW has the physical tools to be a formidable defender, he just has to take the next step. My bet is that he makes that jump in 2025. 

Niko Tsakiris – Midfielder, San Jose Earthquakes (19)

The Bay Area in California is ripe with soccer talent, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the Earthquakes’ academy has churned out USYNT prospects at a high clip over the past couple years. The issue for San Jose (one of many) has been nurturing and using that talent to benefit the first team. Cruz Medina, Oscar Verhoeven and Edwyn Mendoza will all be fighting for minutes in the new-look Quakes team this year, but Niko Tsakiris is the best of the homegrown bunch.

Like Baker-Whiting, Tsakiris has years of MLS experience under his belt despite his age. In his three years with the first team, he’s totaled over 2,500 minutes, the bulk of which (1,475) coming in 2024. Box-to-box midfielders with athleticism, tenacity, and great ball-carrying abilities will always thrive in this league, so it’s no surprise Tsakiris started his professional career quite young. The issue for him has been taking that next step.

He’s fantastic in the middle third, but he hasn’t been consistent in goal-dangerous areas. His decision-making can be poor, as he often looks to dribble his way out of danger instead of using his vision. There have been sparks of a greater potential, we just need to see it more consistently. And who better to unlock that potential than Bruce Arena? 

Elijah Wynder – Midfielder, LA Galaxy (21)

It came as a surprise to many when the Galaxy traded midfielder Mark Delgado to LAFC in January, especially after Gaston Brugman left for the Music City shortly after MLS Cup. A few days later, we got our explanation. The club announced the record USL-to-MLS transfer of Elijah Wynder, the reigning Young Player of the Year in the USL Championship. 

This transfer fell under the radar for those who don’t watch a ton of USL games. But all reports point towards the fact that this is a slam-dunk move for the reigning champs. I’m not going to pretend I’m an expert here, so I’ll defer to an actual USL expert in John Morrissey, who had high praise for Wynder on X:

“Elijah Wynder is a superstar in the making, you can’t say enough about the completeness of his game. Box-to-box energy, contributions closer to goal, and heady intelligence across every phase of play – Wynder’s got it.”

With Riqui Puig and his millions of touches per game out for the foreseeable future, a guy with the profile of Wynder will be an incredible asset for Greg Vanney. 

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